When mom's happy, everybody's happy.

June 21, 2013June 20, 2013

Baby Wipes: Product Comparison

Let me start out by stating that this is not a sponsored post. Much to my dismay, no one has yet offered to pay me money to write about anything. Ever. Unless you count my charting when I was working as a nurse. But nobody counts that. My point is, these are just my own opinions for the sake of sharing knowledge and hopefully helping somebody out. Or just to have something to write about.

We have tried multiple different brands of baby wipes over the past almost three years, and I have definitely formed opinions about them. So here are those opinions, wrapped up and gifted to you. You’re welcome.

Zoey has always had very sensitive skin, so we tend to choose unscented, hypoallergenic wipes or the “sensitive” versions offered by most major brands. Here are four types of wipes we have tried, including the cloth ones I made at home out of flannel.

Pampers Sensitive

I really wanted to like Pampers. I’m not sure why. We prefer their diapers over Huggies when we want disposables for our girls because Pampers tend to fit taller, skinnier babies better. When it came to the wipes, though, I just wasn’t impressed. They were too thin and I always thought I was going to get poop on my hands. I felt that I had to use too many wipes for a job that should only have taken one or two. They also seemed to dry out in the package really fast. They were very soft, though, which was nice. I would give these 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Up&Up (Target brand) Sensitive Wipes

If you’re on a budget, these are definitely cheaper than Huggies and Pampers. However, you get what you pay for. They are very thin – worse even than the Pampers (although not by much). Also, they smell funny. Even though they are “unscented” there was some smell about them that I just didn’t like. They also tore really easily and the ones at the bottom of the pack would be soggy. I give these 2.5 out of 5 stars.

Huggies Natural Care

My favorite of the disposable wipes brands. Nice and thick. Just the right amount of moisture. Smelled like…a baby wipe? As in, not scented but also not some weird vaguely plastic, but also maybe chemical, smell. They hold up well and get the job done with minimal wipes. They do sometimes tear easily when pulling them out of the dispenser, but that’s really my only complaint. I give these 4 out of 5 stars.

homemade flannel cloth wipes

My favorite wipes of all! That’s not just the hippie cloth diaper mama in me talking. These just work the best. I experimented with various homemade wipes solutions (using things like baby wash, tea tree oil, etc). We’ve also tried storing these in a wipes warmer. After a lot of trial and error we’ve discovered that what works best (and easiest) for us is just a squirt bottle of tap water and a stack of these wipes. Douse the wipe when you need, clean baby’s bum and toss in the diaper pail. Done. 90% of the time with one wipe. Easy peasy. I even use them in the diaper bag. I just bring along a tiny water squirt bottle and some dry wipes and toss them in the wet bag with the dirty cloth diapers. Honestly, these are so easy, especially if you’re already doing cloth diapers and washing poopy stuff anyway. But even if you’re using disposable diapers, my recommendation would be to make yourself (or buy) some cloth wipes to use whenever baby pees and just use disposable wipes for poop. You can wash the cloth wipes right along with baby’s clothes (it’s no different than when the diaper leaks and there’s pee on the clothes and urine is sterile, after all). It would save you a LOT of money on wipes in the long run.